Cogeneration stands out as the best heating/cooling system for high technology greenhouses
Taking as an example the tomato, one of the star in the Spanish and on agricultural sector of the economy of the Mediterranean area, the director of the Experimental Station drew attention to the data collected in the last ten years on the export of this product. In his view, the gradual decline in export figures is clear symptom of the lack of competitiveness of our companies in a sector where innovation and technology are setting the levels of productivity and yields.
García Torrente ensures that "the great immediate challenge in the sector is to improve the crop yields in advanced farms based on production in greenhouse." "In just a decade we have been ousted as a world leader and the factors to reverse this trend are in our hands".
The three keys to stable levels of competitiveness, profitability in production, the appropriate response to the demands of consumers and the efficient use of resources, "require a determined bet of Spanish Agriculture innovation to strengthen a position of leadership that international competition is threatening at the current juncture".
In his speech, the director of the Experimental Station, said that improvement in structures is going through a change of the traditional models of greenhouses by others of last generation that increase the solar radiation, the ventilation and the tightness that require less water consumption, among other factors of optimization.
In reference to innovation in the management of exploitation, he detailed some of the new systems the Cajamar Foundation has developed over ten years of research. Top them, the procedure of interplanting, regulation of pruning and the introduction of elements of mechanization are today key aspects of the unique lines of research of the Experimental Station.
With regard to the various factors and systems of energy efficiency that are being used successfully in recent research for the production in greenhouses, García Torrente said that "combined heat and power stands out as the best heating/cooling system for high technology greenhouses". He also pointed out that renewable energy, heat exchangers and the use of the plant debris removed from the crop for biomass generation, are emerging as examples of energy profitability to be taken into account for the increase of production and competitiveness.
García Torrente concluded encouraging to work for the recovery of the positions of leadership in the international markets through the confidence in our opportunities and know-how and the bet for entrepreneurial innovation that has always characterized our agriculture.
